Volatile Close to the Week

After hovering around yesterday's closing levels for most of the post noon trading session, sudden spike in selling activity led the Indian markets to dip into the red. The benchmark Nifty snapped four days winning streak and closed Friday's session below 6000 - a psychologically important level while the BSE Sensex closed at 19966.93 (-25.77 pts). Overall it was a consolidation day for markets; indices hovered around their previous closing values and finally settled on a flat note with negative bias. Realty companies' shares took huge beating on exchanges, could be on back of profit booking. Even broader indices were on sellers' radar in second half of trade but the volume was lower compared to previous sessions. Metal and power stocks are also not in favour at the moment. On the other hand, IT and auto stocks are finding some favour. On the Asian browses Hang Sang closed 128.26 pts down at 23320.52, Straits Times closed in the red dropping 25.52 pts at 3172.44 pt. However Taiwan index (TSEC) and KOSPI closed marginally in the green by 38.24 pts and 7 pts respectively.  Going forward, crucial US job data expected to be out will give a short term direction for the markets starting Monday.